Negative brainwashing

We're getting into some good stuff here, and I'm ripping off your formatting :

Incidentally, may I ask whether "asking your own questions" is itself a form of discernment and judgment?

Yes. And yes. Absolutely 100%. One message I get from The Bible is "believe in The Bible", don't discern that it may be incorrect. God wanted us to be in a perfectly blissful state, to be entities that could not even discern whether they were naked or not, very innocent shiny beings. This is what I am saying I have trouble doing, letting go of the discernment (judgement) which is why I still advocate asking questions. I have the misguided (if one trusts God) impression that by asking these questions I will avoid the trap of negative brainwashing that might lead me to treating others as I myself would not like to be treated.

You "brainwash" your daughter every time you interact with her; you are guiding her in thoughts and behaviors you believe are right, proper and good for her. No responsible parent would do otherwise

This is also undoubtedly true. But I always try to encourage her to think for herself, if she hurts something I say "how would you like it if someone did that to you?" I don't teach her that things I believe in are 100% true. I say that I'm still investigating, will always be and discoveries are theories that may change over time. I say that she needs to make up her own mind about whether a God exists or not. I explain to her why I believe He does and she can disagree with me without fear of discernment (judgement) on my part that she will "get into trouble", many children of religious parents are not shown this courtesy, I have seen it. I do not tell her that God exists and that she has a soul that will go to hell if she doesn't believe in God and that she must pray and then I enforce that prayer. This is what many Muslims and Christians do to their kids, I have seen it . I ask her to think and say that Jews and Muslims believe that Christ isn't the Son of God. If they are right, then Christians are mistaken about the core of their religion. And if the Jews or the Christians or the Muslims have the right religion, then the Hindus and Buddhists who believe in reincarnation are wrong. So I'm a bad parent for doing that in some negatively brainwashed eyes. That is the sort of negative brainwashing I am talking about, it ultimately leads to the child thinking they are different from the failed unwashed unreligious masses, it leads to:

I am better than you and that's why I am going to Heaven

Which is why the world is in such an awful state where religious folk look down on it and mutter "tut, tut, people today are such failures in the eyes of God, good job I am safe in my congregation of good honest righteous (ugh) folk" instead of getting down in the trenches and trying to actually make a difference and helping. I am not tarring all religious folk with this brush, there are many great religious people who really do care, they live spartan lives (Catholicism seems to be appealing to me more these days for some reason, maybe because my father had a strict Catholic upbringing, but maybe because I live alone anyway) with no physical comforts of this world and they really do have their eyes fixed on The Lord, Jesus didn't - and they don't - need Mercedes Benz cars or swimming pools, these people deserve my respect.

I am sufficiently skeptical and cynical ... but I will not allow myself to become excessively so. It is corrosive to my soul.

Ok great! And I agree with excessive cynicism being a bad thing - but how much trust can I place in Mr Dallas or Lewis or Alastair? They haven't given all their money away to charity have they? (Did they?) If you believe a truck is coming toward you, you will jump out of the way. That is belief in the reality of the truck. If you tell people you fear the truck but do nothing to get out of the way, that is not belief in the truck. Likewise, it is not belief to say God exists and then continue sinning and hoarding your wealth while people die of starvation. When belief does not control your most important decisions it is not belief in the underlying reality, as you've said in the past, it is belief in the usefulness of believing.

+++

Spock's mind meld? Good or bad? :-)